As part of my preparation for launching eBookTribe, I’ve been reading the excellent book “Web Copy That Sells” by Maria Veloso.

I unreservedly recommend this book, which breaks things down so much more cleanly and in a much more organized manner than my other favorite copywriting book, “Call to Action”.

As an example of how straightforward she makes the topic, here are her:

Three Fundamental Rules for Writing Web Copy That Sells

• Rule 1. Don’t Make Your Website Look Like an Ad
  
  “Your website should provide the solid information that your prospect is looking for, and it should have an editorial feel to it.”
• Rule 2. Stop Readers Dead in their Tracks
  
  “Fact: If your website is little more than an online brochure for your business, then your website is a very weak selling tool.”
• Rule 3. Capture Email Addresses.
  
  “The odds are low that people will buy from you the first time they visit your website. After all, they don’t even know you.”

Technorati Tags: marketing, Maria Veloso

I’m starting a series of articles with gems I find in the marketing books I’m reading. Yes, it is true, you really can find wisdom in dead-tree books!

Today’s gem is from “Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results”. I’m really enjoying this book and learning a lot from it. The gem I’m going to share is one that I felt compelled to walk around at work and read to coworkers.

For Heaven Sakes, Let them Pee

Imagine you are sitting in a car in the middle of a long road trip. You really have to pee. It is all you can think about. Your eyes are peeled for the nearest rest stop. […] Meanwhile, your beloved is sitting next to you, chattering about how lovely the scenery is. Needles to say, you’re not that interested nor are you being even remotely attentive.
[…]
I think that many visitors to online retail stores are on a long road trip and they have to pee. They have a goal and they want to be successful in that goal, they aren’t looking to be distracted until that goal is satisfied. […] And what is their experience at your store? My guess it’s almost exactly like our poor driver’s experience: they’re trying to ignore information that’s distracting, annoying, and as far as they’re concerned, completely irrelevant to their goal. They’re wading through banners and sale stickers. They’re searching through a sea of chattering navigation links.
[…]
Ask yourself: when she arrives at my store, does my customer have to pee and, if she does, am I letting her? […] Respect the fact that many customers have something in mind when they arrive and that they’re not looking to be distracted. When they arrive, let them pee. You’ll be amazed how interested they get in the scenery when they’re done.

I think that is an absolutely brilliant observation and metaphor. Why do I need to register at your frickin’ site? Just let me put things in the cart! Quit upselling so hard (you listening, GoDaddy?).

Technorati Tags: Marketing, bryan eisenberg, jeffrey eisenberg, call to action, conversion

Even after using the internet every day for almost as long as it has been in existence, I still find myself amazed at how much really great information remains to be found. Know what I mean? Of course, the net is far too big to really know everything of interest to everyone, but you’d think I would have found all the best sites in my focus areas by now, right?

I don’t know how I’ve missed John Carlton’s Big Damn Blog until now. I am extremely impressed, and I’m planning to spend the morning reading all his archives, something I rarely ever do on any blog. A couple quotes which will illustrate what I’m talking about.

A motivational quote:

Just one more reason to stay rooted in the classic stuff — good old-fashioned salesmanship, down-to-earth conversational copy, and becoming a go-to guy in your market. There will no longer be calming breaks in the information-overload flooding through every one of your prospects’ heads.

The best defense against becoming overwhelmed is to stay connected with reliable sources of good info. If you want to dominate your market, you need to be one of those sources. Part of the “reliable core” of the Web, where mysteries are figured out and handled.

And a writing tip:

David Ogilvy, the advertising legend who brought genuine excitement and classic salesmanship to Madison Avenue, wrote about the value of naps for a writer. He wasn’t referring to not being tired, but rather to using the power of your unconscious – his trick was to load up on information about a project… and then go catch forty winks, telling his mind to have something for him when he awoke.

Technorati Tags: guru, John Carlton, marketing

Writing headlines for articles always takes me an inordinate amount of time. I know how important they are for search engine rankings, and since I use my headlines as my permalinks, it is even more important for me to write memorable, attractive ones.

The Advanced Marketing Institute Headline Analyser is exactly the tool for me. It lets you try out various headlines, and then gives Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) scores for them. Higher is better, and a 50% or better score is considered a great headline.

For this article, I tried several variations until I managed to score a stellar 66% EMV rating.

• Powerful headlines - 0%
• Sweet powerful headlines - 33%
• Create sweet powerful headlines - 50%
• Cool headline tool - 66% (ding ding ding, we have a winner)

Technorati Tags: copywriting, webtools, headlines

Today I received a couple new books I hope will help teach me more about the black art of writing online copy that actually sells. After doing some research, and flipping through some of the scanned pages available at Amazon, I chose “The Wizard of Ads” by Roy H Williams and “Call to Action” by Bryan and Jeffery Eisenberg. I’ll review them in more depth as I read and apply their techniques.

At the moment, I only have one example of my ad copy available, which is my TaxBrain ad. I don’t mind sharing it, even though I think it is amateurish, because I just can’t compete for AdWords clicks on that page any more. The page converted fairly well for me. 4% of viewers clicked on the purchase button, and 25% of those viewers converted to purchasers. That’s OK, but the tax adwords are now commanding too high a premium to pay off, even at that conversion rate.

At any rate, I know I have a lot to learn. My ads are nowhere near as magnetically effective as these:

• Butterfly Marketing — WOW, I want to spend $997, which I don’t have, even though I know that I am just looking at the page as inspiration and for learning, I still want to buy.
• findhotniches.com — Again, I want to purchase, even though I’ve bookmarked it as a learning site.
• List and Traffic — I may actually join this list, but for now I am using the ad copy for inspiration.

I have a long way to go before I can grab attention like those guys!

Technorati Tags: Ad Copy, copywriting